Italian, Swiss police recover looted artefacts stashed by British art thiefMarch 23, 2016 - 18:23 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Italian and Swiss police have recovered priceless archaeological artefacts stolen from Italy and stored by a notorious British antiquities dealer, the culture ministry said Tuesday, March 22, according to AFP. The haul, worth nine million euros ($10 million), was discovered in 2014 in a storage unit at the Geneva Freeport rented by Britain's disgraced Robin Symes, a giant in the illegal antiquities trade with ties to Italian tomb raiders. "Forty-five crates containing tens of thousands of archaeological relics of extraordinary quality" were returned to Rome in January, said Italy's Culture Minister Dario Franceschini, as they were unveiled to the press for the first time. The booty included Etruscan painted sarcophaguses representing human figures, a Roman sarcophagus, marble statues of animals and pieces of the floor and walls of a temple, all dating to between the 7th century BC and 2nd century AD. "They were stolen from digs in Sicily, Puglia, Campania and Calabria in the 1970s and 80s," said prosecutor Giancarlo Capaldo, adding that the loot had been smuggled into the Freeport decades ago, where it lay hidden. Italian sleuths tracked the artefacts after seizing incriminating papers from an art smuggler, and they were discovered during a joint sting with Swiss police on Symes's storage unit. Capaldo said the plot had been to restore the statues, tiles and sarcophaguses and sell them on to clients in Japan, Germany and other countries under false papers. "This is one of the most important recoveries of the last few decades," Franceschini said, adding that the antiquities would be restored and returned to the regions across southern Italy from which they were stolen. Photo: ALBERTO PIZZOLI / AFP Top stories The creative crew of the Public TV had chosen 13-year-old Malena as a participant of this year's contest. She called on others to also suspend their accounts over the companies’ failure to tackle hate speech. Penderecki was known for his film scores, including for William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. The festival made the news public on March 19, saying that “several options are considered in order to preserve its running” Partner news | U.S. welcomes Armenia, Azerbaijan’s border delimitation announcement Blinken said it is an important step towards concluding a durable and dignified peace agreement. Residents Of border villages protest as Armenia, Azerbaijan agree on delimitation Residents of several Armenian communities in the northeastern Tavush province began protests late on Friday. Up to 10% cashback from GetTransfer with IDBank cards IDBank clients who make their booking on GetTransfer will receive an exclusive cashback. European Parliament to discuss repression in Azerbaijan The European Parliament will discuss repression of civil society in Azerbaijan on April 24 |